Zach Gilford Believes 'Friday Night Lights' Pal Jesse Plemons Deserves 'Star Wars' Role

By Emily Exton

March 13, 2014 / 5:21 PM

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He'll always be Landry to us. After his time in Dillon, Friday Night Lights star Jesse Plemons joined Breaking Bad for its final season and is now among the list of talented actors in consideration for Star Wars: Episode VII. According to Variety, five actors are in the running to star as the lead in J.J. Abrams' upcoming installment of the legendary Disney/Lucasfilm franchise.

In addition to Plemons, casting conversation is said to be focused around British actor John Boyega of Attack the Block and Downton Abbey's Ed Speleers as well as stage actors Matthew James Thomas and Ray Fisher. The lucky guy will eventually join Girls star Adam Driver, who was recently cast as the film's villain. The original Stars Wars trio of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Hans Solo (Harrison Ford) is expected to be appearing in the film, but nothing has been confirmed. At least we know R2-D2 is returning. (Phew!)

So what does his old friend Matt Saracen, I mean Zach Gilford, think about Plemons suiting up to fight off the evil empire? "I think he's the best actor out of all of us," Gilford told VH1 of his FNL costar. "He's pretty amazing. And I think he deserves to be a huge movie star. I think he's kind of like the Philip Seymour Hoffman of his generation."

Now that the casting for the Fantastic Four reboot has been revealed, we can focus all of our attention on this. Star Wars: Episode VII opens in U.S. theaters on December 18th, 2015. Check out the five actors reportedly in the running to play the lead in the upcoming film.

Jesse Plemons

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

John Boyega

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

Ed Speelers

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

Matthew James Thomas

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]